But during her 12-week appointment at Nottingham City Hospital medics discovered her cervix only measured three centimetres, much shorter than the average of four to five centimetres, which increased her risk of miscarriage.

Laura went back for check-ups every few weeks to manage the problem but three days after her 20-week scan she went into labour.

“The news was bad,” she said.

“Doctors said my cervix had shrunk to 1.8cm. It was funnelling and preparing for labour.”

The next day Laura was raced to theatre and given an emergency cervical stitch with the aim of preventing her cervix from opening.

She was signed off work and told to stay home and rest but on October 27, when she was 23 weeks pregnant, her waters broke.